• Despite calls for more testing, Health Ministry guidelines restrict testing to those showing symptoms, others in high risk groups
• GMOA and other medical specialists have called for more testing, citing WHO position
• Health Ministry recommendation is to isolate and test all clinically-suspected cases
• Private hospitals prohibited from doing screening testing, allowed to test only inward patients
• GMOA says more testing vital as 80% of infected don’t show symptoms but can infect others

Despite the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) and other medical specialists reiterating the need to expand testing capacity for COVID-19, the Health Ministry is still severely restricting testing in Sri Lanka.

Testing is currently limited to those who show symptoms of the diseases such as acute respiratory infection, healthcare workers exposed to such patients, and those who have travelled here from overseas.

The Provisional Clinical Practice Guidelines on COVID-19 Suspected and Confirmed Patients issued on 31 March states testing for COVID-19 is indicated only for patients who belong to the case definition issued by the Ministry of Health and that testing for COVID-19 for screening purpose is not recommended.

“The present recommendation is to isolate and test all clinically-suspected cases of COVID-19 infected patients,” the guidelines said.

The same guidelines are effective for private hospitals, which are also prohibited from doing screening testing and allowed for only inward patients.

According to the Sri Lanka coronavirus tracker https://covidsl.com/, a little over 3,200 tests have been done in Sri Lanka till now. Sri Lanka is testing at 97 per one million population at present while South Korea, which has successfully kept in check the spread of the new coronavirus, stands at close to 7,000 tests per million.

Representatives of the GMOA underscored the importance of widening testing for coronavirus at a meeting with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday, saying that only around 300 tests were being done daily at present and this number must be increased to at least 1,000 per day.

The GMOA has been advocating for more testing over the past weeks, stating that around 80% of patients who are infected with the new coronavirus show mild symptoms, hence there is the possibility that they will remain unidentified as carriers of the new coronavirus. As a result, those who are in close contact with them too will go undetected unless they start showing symptoms and if tests are carried out, they can be identified early.

The association said several countries had started using a newly-approved rapid test which gives results in 15 minutes and that Sri Lanka too must immediately explore the possibility of obtaining these test kits for use in the country.

The GMOA has made representations to the Technical Committee appointed to deal with COVID-19 to consider importing these test kits.

At the meeting, the President emphasised that the Health Ministry planned to test those suspected to have contracted the virus and those who had been in close association with those in the high risk groups. He said the Government would take measures followed by countries that had successfully brought the spread of this virus under control.

GMOA President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya, who addressed the meeting, analysed the manner in which this virus had affected the country geographically and the Government’s actions to control the spread. It was noted that the Government’s timely actions from when this virus first entered the country helped keep the situation under control.

It was also noted at the discussion that the steps adopted henceforth had helped officials to correctly identify both the infected and those who had been compromised due to associating the infected. However, it was also noted that the danger was yet to pass.

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